Saturday, January 17, 2015
finn’s nursery find
I've never been one to decorate a room with a specific theme. I hate most things that come in character form and cringe at the thought of looking at it on the walls. My style consists of a color palette and texture. For Kensi's nursery we did white & gray with pops of pink. It was very simple and easy to change for her big girl room. {which still needs to be shared}
Lately, I've been drawn to a lot of dark blues and rustic features. We want to incorporate a lot of texture. We're using the same crib we used for Kensi, a white Jenny Lind; I absolutely love this crib style for either gender and it keeps a touch of vintage in the room; but this time finding a dresser was hard. We started searching our local antique stores this past summer and just recently found this handsome fellow at a consignment store.
It came with the mirror attached, but we removed it and hung it in our entryway instead. My parents were actually the ones to stumble upon this piece. Lucky for us to have fam that loves to shop antiques and know how to find good solid pieces of furniture.
Lately we've been really surprised how many dressers have been revamped and marked up for a very pretty penny when the bones of the dresser aren't even that good. Many shops do this because most potential buyers have no idea what to look for and are sold simply on the look of a piece.
Here are some of our tips to shop....
Shop with a purpose. Shopping antique or consignment stores can be very overwhelming. It's so important to go with a purpose. Know what your looking for or shop for a specific space. Once you narrowed your search results down, it won't seem like such a tedious task once you get there.
Know good quality. There are many shops that raise the price just because they carry some true antiques. It's important to know what you're buying and what to look for in quality. For dressers or buffets look for dovetail joint by simply pulling open a drawer. A dovetail joint is when two boards are fastened together by several trapezoid shaped cuts. It takes more time and effort to create this detail and once it’s done it doesn’t require any other fasteners. If there is no dovetail work then it was assembled using nails or staples. Don’t get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with a piece made with nails/staples, it just means it doesn't have the craftsmanship quality and you should be aware of the quality of your piece before you agree on a price.
Good things come to those who wait...sometimes. It can really pay off to wait and watch an item. Several shops in our area have three prices listed by date. The longer it sits, the lower the price. If a piece you're interested in has been sitting for quite some time, many shops will give a 50% discount off the original price. Which brings me to the next tip....
Negotiate. Don't be afraid to ask for a lower price. Shops usually have quite a bit of inventory and want their pieces to move in order to get new stuff in. Ask what the lowest price they'll take is if you agree to buy the piece that day. Also, If you continue to keep an eye on a piece and visit frequently, shops tend to negotiate more.
Shop around. There are so many places to find furniture. Aside from antique and consignment {gently used and much newer} stores, check out auctions, estate sales, flea markets, Craigslist, garage sales and resale stores such as Habitat for Humanity. It's shocking what you can find once you open up your realm of stores.
We found Finn's dresser and mirror combo for $160. It's vintage, solid oak {super heavy}, and has dovetails. A complete steal. And it only took us six months to find it ;)
We could spend every weekend rumaging through second hand stores. To some it may sound boring and an awful way to spend a Saturday, but you never know what you may find :)
Happy Shopping on this beautiful Saturday!
Thursday, January 15, 2015
BOY OH BOY
This is really my first week back to our new normal routine or I should say creating a new normal routine. I can proudly say dinner has been home cooked every night so far this week, the dishwasher has been running on the regular and I've actually been able to get some workout in. Unfortanetly, we spent a couple days in our jams, the bathrooms are still waiting to be cleaned, the floors vacuumed and the laundry folded. Yes, Trish my laundry is still sitting on my bedroom floor in piles. At least I know it's clean.
Speaking of laundry....more like clothes, Finnley is one big boy and growing by the second. I was seriously surprised that he even fit into any of the newborn clothes I had bought for Christmas. They didn't fit long, but we at least made it through A few weeks. Now it's the middle of January {6 weeks old} and he fits perfectly in his 0-3 month clothes.
According to his last checkup his height is off the charts and I'm not at all surprised because his onesies are the things we're struggling with the most. This kid is going to be wearing 3-6 month size clothes {at least onesies} in a few weeks if he keeps this up! So much for trying to buy some winter clothes for next year, he'll probably be a size 2. SLOOOOW DOWN BUDDY!
We also caught some of Finn's first smiles this week! What is it about ceiling fans and babies? Whatever it is, he thinks they're funny...apparently really funny :)
Thursday, January 8, 2015
ONE MONTH
To be completely honest...I really thought I was going to have a girl and when this chunk of a boy came out I was shocked. I was completely thrown off and literally had my world flipped upside down. I remember thinking 'what the heck do I do, it's a boy.' But as soon as I cradled him in my arms he showed me our life wasn't meant to be filled with anything other than him.
Finnley is one of the most smuggliest babies I have ever met. He just curls his legs up, tucks his hands in and nuzzles his head right into your chest. He loves to be patted on the back and enjoys looking around at everything. He's constantly taking people in and just listens so intently. The past couple weeks he has been spoiled by family and is constantly being held.
{Month One Milestones}
-tons of dark hair-
-chunky rolls-
-snuggler-
-eats, poops & sleeps-
-snorts-
-family visits-
-1st trip to the beach-
-1st christmas-
Kensi has been an awesome helper. She is very protective and doesn’t like anyone to touch, talk or even look at ‘my baby’. When we’re out and about I put her on Finn Duty...don’t let anyone touch him! I figure people will take it better coming from her rather than me, after all they’ll just brush it off as her being cute and protective when in reality I’m thinking ‘get your germs away from us!’
We’ve had a lot of talks about what Finn can and can’t do. Every morning Kensi comes into our room and asks if her baby is big enough to play in the bouncer. She drops her head in disappointment every time we tell her not yet and ask her what Finn can do right now. She responds with, "eats, seeps and poops. Oh and potty mom!” So now we’ve turned it into a song we sing to Finn and Kensi thinks it’s absolutely hilarious.
Friday, January 2, 2015
WELCOME 2015
The last two weeks have been filled with shopping, baking, getting Christmas ready, family visiting and lots and lots of eating. It's been pretty awesome to be away from the computer and having Mike home; a real vacation from what we do day to day.
We were so excited to welcome my sister Trish and her family from AZ to our home for the very first time. We spend Thanksgiving or Christmas every year together and since Finn's due date altered our typical plan for thanksgiving this year, they made sure to spend Christmas with us. We had the weirdest weather; days as high as 74 and other as low as 38. We took them to our favorite spots and also spent some time on the beach.
We also rung in the New Year together. New Year's is my least favorite holiday, but It's my favorite holiday to celebrate at home with movies and good food. We spent the night sprawled out on the couch and floor, munching on popcorn and way too much sugar. Most of us even fell asleep before it hit midnight.
To be honest i was happy to say goodbye to 2014. We had some pretty awesome things happen like Finnley, but it was a hard year. We faced some new challenges and I'm ready for a new start. We decided to make it completely fresh and new by welcoming the new year by watching its first sunrise. It was stunnin and cold, a chilly 30 degrees, but well worth it.
It was actually really neat to see so many others greeting the first sunrise of the year. I kind of felt like I was part of the movie City of Angels where all the angels meet at the beach to watch the sunrise each morning. Although, there were a few people who were there because they were still up from their midnight celebrations and we can assume this based on their hilarious conversations.
We know 2015 will be a great year for us and our families. For starters, both of my parents are here visiting us. BOTH! My dad hasn't taken a vacation in 18 years! And the best part about him being here is he was able to visit Trish and meet Finnley. I would have hated for them to have to wait until summer to meet.
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